Bearing Capacity

Bearing capacity : It is the load carrying capacity of the soil.

Basic definitions
Ultimate bearing capacity or Gross bearing capacity (qf ): It is the
least gross pressure which will cause shear failure of the
supporting soil immediately below the footing.

Net ultimate bearing capacity (qnf ): It is the net pressure that

can be applied to the footing by external loads that will just
initiate failure in the underlying soil.
It is equal to ultimate bearing capacity minus the stress due to
the weight of the footing and any soil or surcharge directly above
it. Assuming the density of the footing (concrete) and soil (ɤ ) are
close enough to be considered equal, then
• Safe bearing capacity: It is the bearing
capacity after applying the factor of safety
(FS). These are of two types,
• Safe net bearing capacity (qns ) : It is the net
soil pressure which can be safety applied to
the soilconsidering only shear failure. It is
given by,
• Safe gross bearing capacity ( ): It is the
maximum gross pressure which the soil can
carry safely withoutshear failure. It is given by,

• Allowable Bearing Pressure: It is the maximum

soil pressure without any shear failure or
settlement failure
 Terzaghi's Bearing Capacity
Assumptions in Terzaghi's Bearing Capacity Theory
• Depth of foundation is less than or equal to its width.
• Base of the footing is rough.
• Soil above bottom of foundation has no shear strength;
is only a surcharge load against the overturning load
• Surcharge upto the base of footing is considered.
• Load applied is vertical and non-eccentric.
• The soil is homogenous and isotropic.
• L/B ratio is infinite.
Fig. Terzaghi's Bearing Capacity Theory
• Consider a footing of width B and depth loaded with Q and
resting on a soil of unit weight .
• The failureof the zones is divided into three zones as shown
below. The zone1 represents an active Rankine zone, andthe
zones 3 are passive zones.
• the boundaries of the active Rankine zone rise at an angle of 45-
φ2 , and those of the passive zones at 45-φ/2 with the horizontal.
• The zones 2 are known as zones of radial shear,because the lines
that constitute one set in the shear pattern in these zones radiate
from the outer edge of the base of the footing.
• Since the base of the footings is rough, the soil located between
it and the two surfaces of sliding remains in a state of equilibrium
and acts as if it formed part of the footing.
• The surfaces ad and bd rise at to Ф the horizontal.
 At the instant of failure, the pressure on each of
the surfaces ad and bd is equal to the resultant
of the passive earth pressure PP and the
cohesion force Ca.
since slip occurs along these faces, the resultant
earth pressure acts at angle φ to the normal on
each face and as a consequence in a vertical
direction.
If the weight of the soil adb is disregarded, the
equilibrium of the footing requires that
• Bearing capacity of square and circular footings
• If the soil support of a continuous footing yields
due to the imposed loads on the footings, all the
soil particles move parallel to the plane which is
perpendicular to the centre line of the footing.
Therefore the problem of computing the bearing
capacity of such footing is a plane strain
deformation problem. On the other hand if the
soil support of the square and circular footing
yields, the soil particles move in radial and not
in parallel planes.Bearing capacity equation can
be written as,
• Terzaghi has proposed certain shape factors to
take care of the effect of the shape on the
bearingcapacity.
• The equation can be written as,

• Where are the shape factors whose

values for the square and circular footings are
as follows
 Terzaghi’s Theory on Bearing Capacity
• Terzaghi in 1943 gave a general bearing capacity
theory for a strip foundation, called “Terzaghi’s
Theory on Bearing Capacity Analysis“.

• For the first time, he developed his theory by

incorporating weight of failure wedge in the
analysis. Terzagi considered a continuous footing
of width B placed at a depth of D below the
ground surface as shown in fig.1
• In the derivation of the equation the following
assumptions were made.
• The soil is homogeneous, isotropic and columb’s law
of shear strength is valid.
• The footing is continuous and has a rough base.
• Failure zone does not extend above the base of the
foundation.
• Shear resistance of the soil above the base of the
foundation is neglected.
• The soil above the base of the foundation is replaced
by a uniform surcharge.
• Principal of superposition holds good.
FAILURE MECHANISM | Terzaghi’s Theory on Bearing Capacity Analysis

• The soil is assumed to fail along the surface aedcgfb.

• The failure surface consists of 5 zones.
• The Zone I, abc is an elastic zone.
• Zone II, which comprises wedges beg and acd is the
zone of radial shear, which is a transition from elastic
to plastic state.
• The wedges bfg and ade comprise Zone III and are
known as passive Rankine’s zone and will be in a
plastic state.
• When the footing is loaded the wedge abc sinks into
the ground as an integral part of the footing and
remains in the elastic state due to the cohesion and
adhesion between the base of the footing and the soil.
• The straight boundaries ac and bc of this zone are
inclined at an angle with the base of the footing.
• In Zones II and III, shear patterns develop. Zone II, the
zone of radial shear constitutes a set of radial lines
emerging from the outer edges b and a of the footing.
• The other set of lines in this zone are curves
represented by log spiral. The equation of the log spiral
is given by:
• Where, r = the radius vector of the log spiral
inclined at an angle to the initial radius vector r0,
which is ac or bc.

• The boundaries of passive Rankine’s Zone III are

inclined at angles 45-φ/2 with the horizontal.

• The ultimate bearing capacity Qult is obtained by

considering the equilibrium of the elastic wedge
in Zone I as shown in Fig.2. The Various forces
acting on the Wedge are.
Pp   = The resultant passive earth resistance at failure offered by the wedge bcgfb
Ca = Soil adhesion acting along ac and bc
= Angle of internal friction
Qult = Ultimate bearing capacity
• The passive force Pp is determined by considering the
equilibrium of the passive wedge bcdeb. This is obtained by
carrying out the three independent operations.
• The operations comprise:
• Soil is assumed to have weight and possess no cohesion and
surcharge.
• Soil is assumed to have surcharge only and possess no
cohesion and weight.
• Soil is assumed to have cohesion only and possess no weight
and surcharge.
• With the above assumptions the passive resistance , P pq and
Ppc respectively due to weight, surcharge and cohesion are
determined and the values are superimposed. Hence, P p can
be written as:
Substituting the value of Pp in equation (1) we
get,
• The factors , Nq and Nc are called bearing
capacity factors. These factors are functions of
angle of internal ɸ. The curve presented in
Fig.3 below gives the bearing capacity factors
for various values of the angle of internal
friction
 Assumptions in Terzaghi’s Theory of Bearing Capacity:

The assumptions used for deriving the bearing

capacity equation may be summarized as
follows:
• The soil mass is homogeneous and isotropic.
• The soil mass is semi-infinite, that is, it
extends infinitely below a level surface.
• The footing is laid at a shallow depth, that is,
D < B.
 The footing is continuous with L/B ratio > 10, so
that the problem is essentially two-dimensional.
Thus, Terzaghi considered plane strain condition,
neglecting the effect of intermediate principal
stress.
• The base of the footing is rough.
• The failure surface does not extend above the
base of the footing, that is, the shear strength of
the soil above the base of the footing is neglected.
• The effect of soil above the base of the footing is
considered in the form of surcharge, γD, acting at
the level of the base of the footing.
• vii. The effect of soil above the base of the footing
is considered in the form of surcharge, γD, acting at
the level of the base of the footing.
• viii. The load on the footing is vertical and its line of
action coincides with the centroid of the footing.
• ix. The shear strength of the soil is governed by
Coulomb’s equation.
• x. The principle of superposition is valid, so that
the three components of the passive earth
pressure can be com­puted separately and then
added, although their critical surfaces are different.
• The limitation of the Terzaghi’s theory is that it is
applicable only for the shallow foundation.
• The theory has been derived for the case of general
shear failure. For local shear failure the following
modification has been proposed by Terzaghi.
•    ———- (12)
•    ——— (13)

• The reduction in shear parameters is due to the shear

strength not being fully mobilized.
• The bearing capacity factors for use in general equation
of Terzaghi should be based on the values of φ.
Parameters General shear Local shear

Strain < 5% 10 – 20%

φ >36 <28

N Value >30  

Relative Density >70% < 35%

Void Ratio <0.55 >0.75

• Bearing capacity for footing having limited
dimension –
The equation developed by Terzaghi is for
strip foundation, which is considered as two
dimensional.
The case of footings with finite dimensions
is considered as three dimensional problem.
Based on experimental results Terzaghi
suggested following modification for other
footings such as square, circular, rectangular
etc.
• Square Footing
  ———- (14)

• Circular Footing
   ———- (15)

• Rectangular Footing
   ———- (16)
 Types of Bearing Capacity Failures

A bearing capacity failure is defined as a

foundation failure that occurs when the shear
stresses in the soil exceed the shear strength
of the soil. Bearing capacity failures of
foundations can be grouped into three
categories, as follows:
1. General Shear Failure

• As shown in Fig-1, a general shear failure involves total rupture of the

underlying soil.

• There is a continuous shear failure of the soil (solid lines) from below
the footing to the ground surface.
•
• When the load is plotted versus settlement of the footing, there is a
distinct load at which the foundation fails (solid circle), and this is
designated Qult.

• The value of Qult divided by the width B and length L of the footing is
considered to be the ultimate bearing capacity (qult) of the footing.
• The ultimate bearing capacity has been defined as the
bearing stress that causes a sudden catastrophic failure of
the foundation.

• As shown in Fig-1, a general shear failure ruptures and

pushes up the soil on both sides of the footing.

• For actual failures in the field, the soil is often pushed up on

only one side of the footing with subsequent tilting of the
structure.

• A general shear failure occurs for soils that are in a dense or

hard state.
• 2. Local Shear Failure

• As shown in Fig-2, local shear failure involves

rupture of the soil only immediately below the
footing.
• There is soil bulging on both sides of the
footing, but the bulging is not as significant as
in general shear.
• Local shear failure can be considered as a
transitional phase between general shear and
punching shear.
• Because of the transitional nature of local
shear failure, the bearing capacity could be
defined as the first major nonlinearity in the
load-settlement curve (open circle) or at the
point where the settlement rapidly increases
(solid circle).
• A local shear failure occurs for soils that are in
a medium dense or firm state.
• 3. Punching Shear Failure

• As shown in Fig-3, a punching shear failure

does not develop the distinct shear surfaces
associated with a general shear failure.
• For punching shear, the soil outside the
loaded area remains relatively uninvolved and
there is minimal movement of soil on both
sides of the footing.
• The process of deformation of the footing
involves compression of soil directly below the
footing as well as the vertical shearing of soil
around the footing perimeter.
• As shown in Fig-3, the load settlement curve
does not have a dramatic break and for
punching shear, the bearing capacity is often
defined as the first major non linearity in the
load-settlement curve (open circle).
• A punching shear failure occurs for soils that
are in a loose or soft state.
• Table shown below presents a summary of the
type of bearing capacity failure that would
most likely to develop, based on soil type and
soil properties.
• 1. Rankine’s Theory of Bearing Capacity:
• Rankine (1885) attempted to determine
ultimate bearing capacity of the soil by
considering the equilibrium of two elements
of the soil, one below the footing and another
outside the footing adjacent to the first
element.
• Following is the equation for ultimate
bearing capacity as per Rankine’s theory for
cohesionless soil:
where Kp is the Rankine’s coefficient of passive earth pressure.

As per Rankine’s theory, when the depth of foundation is zero,

the ultimate bearing capacity is also zero, which is not true.

As the Rankine’s theory does not give reliable value of ultimate

bearing capacity,

it is rarely used in practice. Instead, Rankine’s theory is used to

determine the minimum depth of foundation as –
where Ka is the Rankine’s coefficient of active earth
pressure and

q the maximum pressure applied at the base of the

foundation